Jason Vanderhill states in his posting Illustrated Vancouver Vol 26, “After the alcohol reserves dried up in the USA in 1921, there was huge opportunity for rum-runners and bootleggers to fill that void by bringing alcohol in from Canada. In fact, the practice was fairly well organized and it was practically considered a ‘respectable trade’ during the 1920s, until exporting liquor to the United States became illegal in 1930.” He continues, “And so, I imagine that dock along the Fraser River was the starting point for many thousands of cases of alcohol that would mysteriously make their way to dry bars all across the USA.” The Westender Vancouver Craft Beer Week article on Henry Reifel by Will Woods provides additional confirmation, “Prohibition was repealed in BC in 1921, but in the US it would run until 1933. So, for about 12 years, if you were an enterprising BC brewer, with enough cash to buy boats and recruit sailors (and perhaps pay the odd bribe), you could conduct your very own rum-running operation.”

The article which discusses entrepreneur brothers Henry and George Reifel continues, “Henry and George fitted the bill exactly and they set about the task with zeal. The Reifels added to their breweries by acquiring the B.C. Distillery in New Westminster. They bought a large tract of marsh land in Delta, with long grasses perfect to hide boats (incidentally, the land was gifted by the family to the federal Crown and is now the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary). Before long the Reifels rum-running business was working like clockwork down the coast.”

Clearly, the Riefel’s saw a new market in providing fancy wines and high grade liqueurs to the alcohol starved Americans and hence the need for a winery building.

On Robert A Bell’s Wines of Canada Website under the heading of Prohibition, it states “In 1921 Growers’ Wine Company of Victoria used loganberries and then labrusca grapes for wine production, becoming the first commercial growers_ciderwinery in BC….The Growers Cider Company was established in 1927 in the District of Saanich, British Columbia which is located in Victoria. The company motto back then was “What Western Canada Makes, Makes Western Canada”. The first plant was built near the end of 1928 and was created as a means to showcase Canadian ciders and wines the world.” Its interesting that the the B.C. Distillery should build a “winery” building in 1929, perhaps indicating there was a healthy competition going in the prohibition wine business.

Documents contained in the Seagrams Museum (who later purchased the B.C. Distillery) contains a huge number of B.C. Distillery Documents, some of which mention the winery and which may shed more light on this era and the relationship of the B.C. Distillery to wine making.

The 1940’s – New Owners for the BC Distillery
According to the book Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History, the Bronfman family purchased “the British Columbia Distillery in 1941.” The Canadian Encyclopedia confirms that the Bronfman family were founders of the Distillers Corporation-Seagrams Ltd which was founded in 1928. “It gained a certain notoriety in the prohibition era and enjoyed a certain celebrity thanks to the colourful nature of its owner, Samuel Bronfman (see Bronfman Family)”

The next direct information we have about the 100 Braid St Building comes from the New Westminster City Archives. It contains two Aug 18 1944 architectural drawings: blueprint that shows the B.C. Distillery Co Ltd., and still house and winery; steelwork incidental to installation of a 2″ p.cu. spirit line from the still house to the winery. If a “spirit line” was installed that would indicate that the building was likely in use from that period on; perhaps not as a winery but in the production of other BC Distillery products such as rye, gin or whisky.

On the Trail of a Winery at 100 Braid St
In an article by Monique Beech, entitled Site’s Roots Go Deep we find confirmation that “it was in 1948, that [St. Catherines Winery] was bought by Distillers Corporation-Seagram and Toronto’s Torno Family, which created Jordan-Danforth Wines. The Danforth wine label was made in St. Catharines, the Jordan line in Jordan.” The Seagram’s Museum collection contains documents linking the “Distillers Corporation-Seagrams Limited/The Seagram Company Limited Subsidiaries-Jordan Wine Company Limited” in the form of Minute Books 1926-1948 . Knowing that Jordan’s was a subsidiary of the Distillers Corporation-Seagrams’ is important as we pick up the trail of the 100 Braid St building as we approach the 1960’s.

On the Wines of Canada website by Robert Bell of Langley, he states that West Coast Wines, incorporated in 1960 and later known as Villa Wines in New Westminster, was a subsidiary of Jordan’s Wines Ltd/St Michelle Cellars Ltd.

We can confirm this through the Canada Trademarks website which shows quite a number of wine labels that were tradmarked by Jordan’s and West Coast Wines, located at the 100 Braid St address in New Westminster.